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ABUSE OF POWER.

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paying what he chooses to the Government; and they are all the same."

"Well spoken, O Khan!" cried a chorus of people; "it is the truth!"

Looking at the honest soldier, I asked him, "Now, where are your fields? if they are bad, you shall have a remission."

He drew himself up, proudly enough, and replied

"My fields were sown in the rains, and God has been good to me. I have reaped and stored the crop, and my children are eating it. I have paid my rent too, and want nothing but your favour."

So I patted him on the head, and bade all the rest go and do as he had done, and I heard no more of remissions.

So it was in every village; the powerful paid no rent in comparison with the poor, and thus the revenue had been diminishing year by year. No accounts of land had been taken for fifty years or upwards; no one had paid the least attention to the subject, and it would necessarily take some years to get to the bottom of all the defalcations, and to establish a new and honest system.

Nor had even the rent which had been collected been forwarded to the treasury; in some places half the sum, or even less, was expended on the village itself, and the balance handed over to the collector. What wonder that the revenue declined?

I went into Shorapoor on the occasion of the death of Pid Naik's wife, a good woman and much respected, and I also visited the Ranee and the Rajah, who were overjoyed to see me. I had appointed Mr Murray, the medical attendant attached to me, as instructor in Eng

L

lish to the Rajah, and I found he had made very fair progress, being able to read easy stories, and write very fair copies. I was much pleased, and told him when I came to reside in my own house I would look after him myself. He was very intelligent, and never tired of asking me questions about my country, its customs, and its people. He was also learning Persian, Mahratta, and Teloogoo, the language of business, and got on very well with all. I found three rooms of my new house were roofed in, and the walls plastered inside; the rest was in active progress, and I hoped all would be ready for us by the time we wished to return.

CHAPTER IX.

1844.

IN August I took my wife to Linsoogoor for medical advice she was ill and suffering. I had arranged to send her home to England for a time to recruit her strength, which had suddenly and unaccountably declined. I trusted that the means used would enable her to undertake the journey, and that the complete change would set her up. God saw fit to take her from me very suddenly at the last.

Of that time I cannot write. It is many years ago, and all the scene with its sad details rises fresh before me. I tried humbly to bow to the will of God; but I had lost in her not only my loving and beloved wife, but my steady, true friend, my comfort and my happiness; so tender in her love, so gentle; so firm to do right, and so keen to detect wrong. Henceforth I must be alone at Shorapoor, and work on as best I could without her loving presence and her wise, calm counsels, without human aid or sympathy of any kind. Well-it was a bitter grief, and it had to be borne; so, after a very severe illness which detained me for some time, I returned to take up my work again at Shorapoor alone.

I found my house quite finished now, and looking really beautiful inside and out. What a mockery it seemed to me! The dear presence that would have made it home to me; the deft, skilful hands that would have delighted in making it habitable and homelike— these were at rest now, free, at all events, from future pain and suffering; and in this thought was my only comfort. Fresh anxieties were in store for me

at Shorapoor.

I had been hearing for some weeks past very disagreeable reports in relation to a conspiracy at Shorapoor to destroy the young Rajah at the "Dussera " festival, when great crowds usually assembled. Pid Naik's favourite, Krishnaya, was at the head of this most villanous scheme.

The young Rajah of Gudwall, a neighbouring principality, had been shot in his Durbar with his father and brother, and their bodies had been cast out of the town.

My watchful friend, Captain Malcolm, wrote to me to be on my guard, and look well to the river ferries, because reports were rife that Arabs and Rohillas had moved in my direction, so as to arrive at Shorapoor at or during the "Dussera" festival.

The Ranee was in the wildest state of alarm about her son, and about me; but I had brought another company of the 6th Regiment with me from Linsoogoor, and I had now 170 men-quite enough, I considered, to prevent any disturbance. Very soon after the arrival of the troops, Pid Naik came off to see me in the direst alarm. "What was the meaning of these troops?" he asked. I verily believe that he imagined they had come for him! And as I did not care to erase

1844.]

A HORRIBLE PLOT DISCOVERED.

165

this impression altogether, I only told him that there were reports of a dangerous and bad character afloat at Hyderabad, relative to some intrigues going on at Shorapoor, and that the troops had been sent by the Resident's orders to be ready in case of emergency and to prevent trouble; but that no one would interfere with him, or molest him in any way, if things went well and quietly.

Two days afterwards, two of Pid Naik's confidential servants came to me privately, saying they had something to disclose; I therefore took down their depositions. A sad revelation, indeed, of contemplated treachery! They professed to have warned their master, but in vain, and therefore came to tell me, in the hope that mischief might be prevented. Evidently I had arrived just in time—the scheme was all ready to be carried out. My informants were fearless men, and gave their information clearly and unhesitatingly. In all respects it accorded precisely with Captain Malcolm's private information received at Hyderabad, and confirmed the report that both the Rajah and myself were to be put an end to during the coming festival of the "Dussera."

I then sent for Pid Naik, and without informing him how far he was implicated, told him of the horrible plot that had been discovered, and informed him, before Captain Stoddart as a witness, that I should hold him responsible in life and person for any riot or disturbance. He did not like this at all, and pretended to be greatly shocked at the contemplated villany; but when I told him further particulars, he seemed to comprehend the danger to himself if he did not at once exert himself to prevent mischief. He agreed to give the necessary orders, and to see that peace was preserved during the